Monday, April 16, 2012

15 Ways to Have Fun Outside- In The Dark


15 Ways to Have fun Outside in the Dark- Great for late summer nights and camping trips!

We love playing outside and the fun shouldn't end just because the sun went down! So today I thought I'd share fifteen ways to have fun outside.. in the dark. 

  1. Flashlights are fun! Give the kids flashlights and take a look around. Much fun can be had by simply exploring with a flashlight. What looks different at night? What does my mouth look like with the flashlight? My fingers?
  2. Flashlight tag. Tag players using the beam of light, or simply play tag with flashlights to guide the way.
  3. Flashlight limbo. How low can you go? Two people, holding flashlights, face each other and make a steady beam of light for others to limbo under.
  4. Catch the light. My son absolutely loves chasing after the ever-moving beam of light. I shine it around and just when he thinks he's caught it, I move it again. He has so much fun and this really tires him out. He also enjoys reversing the play and watching me scurry after the light. 
  5. Catching shadows. We've also had a lot of fun chasing each other's shadows. The object is to catch the other person's shadow by chasing after it and jumping on it. All you need is a porch light that shines out into your yard and you're ready for some fun. 
  6. Shadow puppets. Shine a light onto the side of your house or fence to set the stage for an evening of puppet shows. 
  7. Catch lightening bugs.
  8. Put a spin on some classic games. How much fun is "Red Light, Green Light" or "Duck, Duck, Goose" in the dark? Lots, actually.
  9. Glow in the dark dancing. Put on shows for one another, or simply rock out with glow sticks. 
  10. Hide and seek with glow sticks. One person hides a glow stick and then all of the others try to find it. The person that finds it first gets to hide it again.
  11. Hunt for glow sticks. Hide a bunch of glow sticks all throughout the yard and let the kids hunt for them. 
  12. Flashlight hunt. One player hides an object, like a rubber duck, and the others try to find it using their flashlights.
  13. Build a campfire. Listen to music. Play cards. Cuddle. Make s'mores. 
  14. Tell spooky stories. But maybe not too spooky.
  15. Tell stories with constellations. Show your children a few constellations and then ask them if they can find any pictures in the stars. Ask them to tell you more about the object they see. Can they make up a story about it? Can you?

More Tips:



  • Regular flashlights are great fun, but a child-size headlamp can make the night extra special and some of the games a bit easier. 
  • Make sure your yard and area of play is safe before playing. As with anything, supervise your children and use caution and your best judgement. 
  • Set a timer to let everyone know when the play must come to an end to transition smoothly into bedtime routines. 

What are some of your favorite ways to have fun in the dark?

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26 comments:

  1. Thanks for all these ideas, we will be using them as the girls get older.

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  2. we go camping so some of this could be fun when it gets dark.

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  3. Love this list. I had so much fun playing outside at night when I was a kid.

    With my son, we like to go for a walk with flashlights and search for frogs.

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  4. Great ideas! I love the flashlight limbo (better than using fire!). :)

    I've got more outside dark activities on my site too and most of them are different. There are SO many things to do out in the dark!

    Thanks for sharing yours. Off to tweet your link...

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  5. Glow sticks are great! My son just got some during Easter that were inside plastic eggs. We played with them for as long as we could, in the bathtub and outside.

    They make the bathtub water look awesome in the dark :)

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  6. So many great ideas Joyce! Great list!

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  7. These are too fun! Right now the girls go down before dark but these would be perfect for when they're older or when were on a special camping trip and they get to stay up a little later than usual :)

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  8. Thank you everyone! I really appreciate the comments, and I'm so glad you all liked this post.

    These activities would be great for a camping trip. I'm looking forward to many of those this year :)

    And thanks for stopping by Jean Oram. I'll definitely take a look at your site! Thank you for sharing!

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  9. Hi there

    My friend Kierna Corr pointed me at your site. I'm delighted to have found a fellow After Dark afficionado! I and the children around me have been engaged in an After Dark Club all winter; we are now on After Dark hiatus as it's too light before their bedtime! This is a link to one of my blog posts, that you may be interested in: http://playlearninglife.wordpress.com/2012/02/28/after-school-after-dark/

    Let's keep in touch ready for Autumn!

    Jules

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  10. Hi there

    My friend Kierna Corr pointed me at your site. I'm delighted to have found a fellow After Dark afficionado! I and the children around me have been engaged in an After Dark Club all winter; we are now on After Dark hiatus as it's too light before their bedtime! This is a link to one of my blog posts, that you may be interested in: http://playlearninglife.wordpress.com/2012/02/28/after-school-after-dark/

    Let's keep in touch ready for Autumn!

    Jules

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  11. Hi Jules! I'm so glad you stopped by. I'm checking out your post right now :) We should definitely keep in touch!

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  12. sooo fun! Bear has a hat that has LED lights on it and he loves to play outside with it. this post made me think of playing with the neighborhood kids when i was younger. thanks for bringing back those memories!

    *pinning it

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  13. Aww, I'm so glad my post brought back good memories, Andie! And yay for making memories with our kids.. that will hopefully stay with them into adulthood. <3

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  14. Lightening bugs are becoming rare, please let them live so everyone can enjoy their magic.

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  15. when I went to a camp, we played ultimate frisbe in the dark by making a boundary on the field with glowsticks, giving the kids glowsticks to wear (the different colors determine teams), and we somehow got a glow-in-the-dark frisbe attacher and attached that to the frisbe (u could just tape glowsticks to the inside of frisbe). it was a blast and everyone had fun with it!!!

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  16. Cool ideas! Another one would be to try dumping non-toxic glow sticks into bubble solution for glow in the dark bubbles. Here's a link to the pinterest post on that:
    http://pinterest.com/pin/63331938480118957/

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  17. I just love these ideas. Miss Possum will love these activities. She likes the dark so we won't have any problems there!

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  18. Great list and so many fun ideas!! Pinned. (Momma's Fun World)

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  19. These are things we my siblings and I did as kids. Except flashlights were only for emergencies and we didn't have glow sticks. We basically played in the dark! Well, after the street lights went up, night life got a bit brighter!

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  20. One of our favorite after dark activities is glow-in-the-dark ring toss! It includes a bunch of glow in-the-dark necklaces & a couple of sticks or ground stakes. We attach one necklace to each stake using string, duct tape or electrical tape, leaving enough of the stake uncovered so it can be put into the ground. Then we insert the stakes in the ground. Assemble the necklaces see who can get the most rings over the stakes. My kids love it!!

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  21. LOVE these ideas! Just wanted you to know it was featured on our site today: http://www.thedatingdivas.com/food/101-camping-tips-ideas/ Thanks so much for sharing!!!

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  22. These ideas are crazy awesome.I going to try them all out.

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  23. I took my Daisies on a Letter boxing Hike in the dark. - At a Camp -
    First I went down the trail to make sure it was clear during the day and got those little solar lights from the dollar store and put them 10-15 feet a part down the trail and one at the Letter box location.
    They all put glow stick necklaces and bracelets on they all got a little flashlight and I made poem clues that they had to read off to go from one letter box to the next.. They had so much fun.

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  24. I really love all these ideas. I will try them with my kids!! :D

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  25. when I was young duck, duck, goose became ghost, ghost, BOO. also hide and seek is awesome at night, we even get the adults involved. also, we tried the glow in the dark ring toss. Make sure you get necklaces not bracelets. Next time
    I'll get the right ones.

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  26. thanks for the Flashlight hunt game , my 13 year old is having a camping birthday party and I can't wait to try this .

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